the long term momentum is surely with signatech alpine, the short term momentum with newblood by morand, but jota have bucketloads of pace from tincknell and albuquerque. the weather could be the spanner in the works for everyone though - it will rain at some point during the meeting, it's just a matter of when. it's just like being at silverstone

as of 10 days ago there were 36 cars entered which is a pretty solid field.

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he's currently lying 4th in gp3 which is a decent effort, and he's from a formula three background which despite the homogenising (sp, apologies) of the formula overall generally means he's learnt to do things properly.

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it's only silverstone (by way of being attached to the wec meeting) that required parting company with cash to watch the race. everywhere else has had some level of free entry, though it has gone down with varying degrees of popularity with the locals. imola was quiet despite a decent amount of local advertising, the red bull ring round was pretty popular and ricard was a decent amount quieter than the wsr meeting (which is completely free entry and better established). i think this one should be decently attended too. fwiw, the free entry thing is done for national and club level meetings across europe except in the uk and it seems very sensible - keeps motorsport accessible, but still collects some revenue from people with a specific interest in seeing cars up close.

today's weather is expected to be partly cloudy and 'hot' at 26c, with 75% humidity.

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fwiw, the free entry thing is done for national and club level meetings across europe except in the uk and it seems very sensible - keeps motorsport accessible, but still collects some revenue from people with a specific interest in seeing cars up close.

Not much of that in Germany either... club races are usually a tenner. Only actualy free races would be VLN if you watch out on the Nordschleife (as you should).

Not much of that in Germany either... club races are usually a tenner. Only actualy free races would be VLN if you watch out on the Nordschleife (as you should).

And not in Finland as well. Usually tickets on Saturday are ten or fifteen euros and five on Sunday. Sunday is cheaper because the headliners qualify and race on Saturday and supports race on Sunday.

That's why I don't attend Finnish events at all. Tracks except Ahvenisto are far away from the South and line-ups aren't very intriguing. I'm not keen on driving +300k to see the Porsche Cup doing two 15-minute stints.

really? the first time i saw the free entry, paid paddock was either at the nurburgring or hockenheim about 10 years ago. i can't remember exactly what it was, but i'm sure it was a national series, and there was us british lot supporting. i've also seen it at monza for superstars and italian gts i think, and at the start of the year for blancpain gts.

back to estoril and the winds dropped completely thankfully but the sun has also gone in so it's a tradeoff unfortunately for nissan there was some sort of issue with one of their course cars at the start of the autogp race so that race has been delayed a little. shouldn't cause any issues with the elms start though.

tincknell's pace in qualifying this morning was spectacular as usual, and the signatech alpine car will start from 3rd behind the thiriet/tds ligier. my maths has let me down, if it finished like that the title would still go to signatech alpine?

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really? the first time i saw the free entry, paid paddock was either at the nurburgring or hockenheim about 10 years ago. i can't remember exactly what it was, but i'm sure it was a national series, and there was us british lot supporting. i've also seen it at monza for superstars and italian gts i think, and at the start of the year for blancpain gts.

ADAC GT-Masters used to be free for the first few years while they were trying to establish it.

GT-Open once promised free tickets at the 'Ring, but the management up there made them go back on it.

it could have been the gt masters series in that case. it was definitely paid paddock because i remember saying on here that it was a really good idea to get people through the gates.

it remains a really good idea to get people through the gates. the pitwalk was packed full of people, and they'd all coughed up the 5 euros to be there. there's a decent number currently sat in the grandstand (terracing! it feels like being back at a football league match... and much more comfortable than seating), and about the entire attendance from the imola meeting sat in the stands overlooking the entry to the final corner.

an outbreak of common sense in motorsport. who'd have thought

race start in 45 minutes.

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devils advocate in-chief and professional arguer of both sides